The present invention concerns an improved safety and arming mechanism for an air-delivered explosive device.
In explosive missiles such as bombs, rockets, projectiles and the like, which deliver a warhead to a distant object, it has been found that a reliable way of providing safety is to keep one portion of the explosive detonation train to the warhead out-of-line until after the missile is launched. At a predetermined time after launching, the explosive train is caused to be aligned and the missile is said to be armed. A device which accomplishes the above is known as a safety and arming device, or safe/arm mechanism.
The out-of-line feature mentioned above has become a basic characteristic of practically all safe/arm mechanisms. One such mechanism, for example, includes an interrupter rotor which aligns a detonator with an explosive firing train at some time after launching. Several latches, located on the rotor and on the rotor actuating means, are used to prevent the rotor from being rotated until after launching.
Some safe/arm mechanisms are specifically adapted for use with parachute-delivered explosive devices. One such mechanism, which is used with a warhead ejected into an impinging airstream, includes a malleable safety washer which is crushed as a consequence of imposed shock resulting from the deployment of an attached delivery parachute. Most safe/arm mechanisms which utilize parachute pull to provide arming energy also use an interface mechanism of some kind as a buffer, thus adding to the complexity and adversely affecting the reliability of the mechanism.
To date, safe/arm mechanisms for air-delivered explosive devices have not fully satisfied existing needs, as such mechanisms generally utilize complex and expensive actuating means, are usually difficult to assemble, are often unsafe to handle and store, and lack the high degree of reliability and safety commensurate with modern explosive weapons.